Over the weekend, a friend of mine handed me an article from a newspaper she had clipped. Low and behold, right there in vivid color was a picture of a cougar. This creature was not photographed in some remote corner of the Rockies, nor was it taken in the famed western lands of South Dakota. This cougar was photographed right here in Illinois.

The article states that a trail camera captured the big cat. A local hunter had set up the camera to monitor the deer activity on the property he hunted. When he went to check his photos, he got quite the surprise. The photo was taken near Jacksonville, IL.

How close is that to Grundy County? Jacksonville is located about three hours south of here. If you looked on a map, you would see that it is located directly west of Springfield.